Research

Vespula (yellowjacket wasps) includes some of the world’s most ecologically damaging invasive insects. This has been attributed in part due to generalist and opportunistic foraging strategies and plasticity in life history traits, shifting from an annual to a multi-year colony cycle.

Our Research

We use this generalist predator insect model to integrate principles and theory from community ecology and evolutionary biology to explicitly test how ecological and environmental factors interact to affect shifts in invader life history traits and ultimately modify invasion impacts.